That’s the buzz. Folks wishing you “Happy Holidays!” are not actually expressing their hope that your festive season will be joyous. What they are in fact doing is undermining Christianity and Christian values in America. Well, at least according to folks like Bill O’Reilly and others pissed at inclusiveness and the War on Christmas. The thinly or not so thinly veiled message is “First they killed Christ. Now they want to kill Christmas. Damn those Jews…” I just shake my head at the stupidity. Clearly, the French do not have a monopoly on narrow minded xenophobia. Which makes this blog post so odd – Neil Kramer, a Jew (duh!) going on and on about Andrew Krucoff’s adventures in Jerusalem, how the notion of cool Jews is dumb and then segueing into his take on the War – he’s pro-Christmas. I think. Whatever. read it, it’s funny. Or disturbing. I can’t figure it out. Also in the category of funny/disturbing is American Apparel’s 12 Days of Hanukkah Advent Calendar. OK, I get the point – pull on the date and save money on t-shirts or socks or jackets or whatever. I know American Apparel is very important, but what’s with the Hanukkah thing? It’s not even Hanukkah yet. There are 4 days of sale items left so hurry over and Save! Save! Save! A portion of the proceeds will be used to sponsor Krucoff’s Bar Mitzvah! Just his Bar Mitzvah though, not his briss. Thankfully, it seems that Avraham Baruch Krucoff already had a proper briss – certificate and all! I think I better shut up now. Those anti-histamines are kicking in and I am the highest I have ever been in Jerusalem so far.
Happy Holidays!
Ha ha ha ha …
- Hawk Tuah Girl Haliey Welch is Not Jewish. Probably. - 8/9/2024
- Jews Blessed by their High Priests - 10/14/2022
- Foolproof Mufletta Recipe & Muflettapalooza / Mimouna Invite! - 3/26/2021
It is a matter of, what are your ideals. Xtianity did not live up to its ideals much, for a long time; but at least they HAD some, and eventually they improved. They had something to work with.
However, there are other thought-systems with very different ideas. Nothing to work with. That is what is so sad.
You can’t even imagine a mentality without, at least, a wisp of fair play in it, universality, brotherhood of man, at least in theory, for girls, sometimes. You can’t imagine.
It is Athens versus Sparta, maybe. Nobody admires Sparta, who examines it closely.
Discipline, but no looooove. Gotta have looove.
Sigh.
They seemed to have learned some things, Michael. I mean, they look very pretty next to some other people. Not that I go to sleep.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, from the people who brought you the Crusades, the blood libel and Kishinev…a peace-loving religion!
How can you piss on Fox, which consistently supports Israel and condemns anti-Semitism in all its forms? Yours is yesterday’s knee-jerk response. Fox, much more than CNN, isn’t xenophobic, but truly inclusive of peace-loving religions. Including Christianity.
Think again.
Krucoff’s Bar Mitzvah is wonderful, being authentic is wonderful, BT is wonderful and Christmas is also wonderful, for the Christians. Everybody has a right to be what they are, and love it. I am not sure it is strictly correct to say Merry Christmas, but I am saying it, to all the obvious Christians, or Happy Holidays, whatever comes out of my mouth first. The founding fathers of the US were all Christians, and I can deal with that. It’s the facts. G-d bless them all. G-d bless America. If I want to go to Israel, the planes leave every day, thank G-d, may they always. Basically, they get their country, and we get ours, G-d preserve them both. There is a much bigger enemy at the gate. You know who and what I mean. Let’s not PC ourselves into oblivion, FGM, purdah, and tablecloths on our heads – if we get to keep our heads, which would be very doubtful.
A freaky friend of mine said once that a Christmas tree will do a Jewish child less harm than certain kinds of cockamamie Reform Judaism, but I do not endorse that. Just saying. My friend’s point was that the child KNEW he was ignorant of Judaism, and had a better chance of becoming a real BT that way. He had no illusions about what Judaism was; he was a blank slate with nothing false to get over, get past and forget.
If Daddy (Hashem) wanted to give different nations different dispensations, that is fine with me. I don’t put down theirs. I would never put down the King James Bible, either. It’s what He gave them and it is the real thing, FOR THEM. We can wave over the fence and pass cups of (kosher) sugar. At sundown we go back to our own fires.
The reason why we, as Jews (yes, that even goes for Reform, Conservative, even Karaites, and Samaritans), have a problem with saying Merry Christmas is that it is a holiday which celebrates the fact that Christians believe that G-d is a Trinity, whereas we as Jews believe (and have somes died for the right to believe) that G-d is a Unity. This belief in the Unity of Hashem is not a merely theoretical optional belief of Judaism, it is the core of our faith.
It is also the core of Islam and Sikhism.
From a comment on Jewschool:
My Congressman- John Dingell’s poem is great!
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI):
“Madam Speaker, I have a little poem.
‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the House,
no bills were passed `bout which Fox News could grouse.
Tax cuts for the wealthy were passed with great cheer,
so vacations in St. Barts soon should be near.
Katrina kids were all nestled snug in motel beds,
while visions of school and home danced in their heads.
In Iraq, our soldiers need supplies and a plan,
and nuclear weapons are being built in Iran.
Gas prices shot up, consumer confidence fell.
Americans feared we were in a fast track to ….. well.
Wait, we need a distraction, something divisive and wily,
a fabrication straight from the mouth of O’Reilly.
We will pretend Christmas is under attack,
hold a vote to save it, then pat ourselves on the back.
Silent Night, First Noel, Away in the Manger,
Wake up Congress, they’re in no danger.
This time of year, we see Christmas everywhere we go,
From churches to homes to schools and, yes, even Costco.
What we have is an attempt to divide and destroy
when this is the season to unite us with joy.
At Christmastime, we’re taught to unite.
We don’t need a made-up reason to fight.
So on O’Reilly, on Hannity, on Coulter and those right-wing blogs.
You should sit back and relax, have a few egg nogs.
‘Tis the holiday season; enjoy it a pinch.
With all our real problems, do we really need another Grinch?
So to my friends and my colleagues, I say with delight,
a Merry Christmas to all, and to Bill O’Reilly, happy holidays.
Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas.”
AnnArbor Mishuganer
http://fuckchristmas.org is good for a laugh
Happy to see you caught the AA 12 day thing that Rachel blogged a few days ago on BeachHillel.com. not that I am showing off, but she is sharp! This was an issue last year, remember? All those folks like Bill “I have nothing really important to say” O’riled up. Happy x-mas apparently is also not kosher to say.
So what is a good yid to do who wants to not offend the Gentiles but doesn’t want to say merry chrstmas?
I will propose a rabbinic compromise “Merry Holidays”.
Citizen Neil of citizenofthemonth.com is almost always funny and almost never disturbing. He’s there to make us laugh and think. …I think… 😉
I say Happy Holidays to all.
These people are wacky.
This war on X-mas is pissing a lot of people off. This crazy bitch has another anti-Jesus entry too. Check this out.
I actually found it under a comment on another anti-war-on-christmas blog, but I forget which one.